What comes to mind when you picture a psychologist? If you're like most people coming to this fascinating field for the first time, the answer may include a leather couch and a scholarly looking gentleman quietly taking notes and occasionally nodding. In some ways, such a picture would be accurate, a confirmation not only of the importance of Sigmund Freud in the history of psychology but also of the degree Freud dominates the popular perception of this discipline.

But the picture would be inaccurate, as well.

Freud was a physician, and the majority of psychologists are not. Both the psychoanalytic theory he pioneered and the therapeutic approach it was based on - psychoanalysis - have seen their dominance wane in recent years. And psychologists today, as indebted as they may be to Freud's landmark explorations of our psychological landscape, are involved in far more than helping people cope with inner demons.

The expansive and varied roles of contemporary psychologists create another common image - of a crowd of white-coated researchers gathered around a maze, carefully recording a white rat's performance. It's another inadequate picture because experimental psychologists today usually work with people, not animals.

Moreover, the areas of interest those psychologists are pursuing now encompass every part of the process we use to develop and function as people:

How we perceive, remember, and learn

How we select our friends and partners and retain their affection and love

The things that motivate us as we make our choices in life

Even how we relate to the vehicles, machinery, computer systems, or workspaces we encounter as we make our livings.

A Basic Introduction to a Complex Subject

Professor David W. Martin is professor and Head of the Psychology Department at North Carolina State University. He received his B.A. from Hanover College and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Dr. Martin is author of Doing Psychology Experiments, now in its 6th edition and adopted at more than 100 colleges. Dr. martin is the recipient of the Roush Award for Teaching Excellence and was named to the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State.

36 Lectures - 30 minutes each

1: Modern Psychology in Historical Context

19: Emotion - What Do We Measure?

2: Experimentation as a Research Method

20: Emotion - Theories

3: Nonexperimental Research Methods

21: Psychoactive Drugs - Processes, Stimulants

4: Evolutionary Theory and Modern Psychology

22: Drugs - Depressants, Narcotics, Hallucinogens

5: Freud's Thinking

23: Social Psychology - Influence and Reciprocity

6: Details of Psychoanalytic Theory

24: Social Psychology - Additional Mechanisms

7: Classification of Mental Illnesses

25: Simple Learning - Classical Conditioning

8: Anxiety and Mood Disorders

26: Simple Learning - Operant Conditioning

9: Disorders of Brain, Body, Self, Drugs, Sex

27: Complex Learning

10: Schizophrenic Disorders

28: Memory - Characteristics

11: Childhood, Retardation, Personality Disorders

29: Memory - Memory Aids and Forgetting Theories

12: Physical Therapies - Drugs

30: Perception - Forming Internal Models

13: Physical Therapies - ECT, Surgery, Genes

31: Perception - Finding and Organizing Cues

14: Talking Therapies - Psychoanalysis

32: Evolutionary Psychology - Basic Concepts

15: Therapies - Humanistic, Cognitive, Group

33: Evolutionary Psychology - Altruism and Mating

16: Behavior Therapies - Classical Conditioning

34: Evolutionary Psychology - War, Family, Food

17: Behavior Therapies - Operant Conditioning

35: Engineering Psychology

18: Models of Motivation

36: Recap, Omissions, and Into the Future

Psychology of Human BehaviorLectures by Professor David W. Martin

Sioux Falls Atheists endorse Psychology of Human Behaviorfor giving us a basic introduction to a complex subject.This is Basic Psychology 101 taught by an expert.